5 Books About Love With The Best Relationship Advice
Get yourself out of your relationship funk on World Book Day with these smart books about love.
Getty Books can teach us many things, from how to be a better writer to the history of the world. Some books about love are even powerful enough to show us how to improve our relationships and love life as well.
Some of you might disagree and say that you can’t get better at relationships just by reading some methods. Some of you might even believe that it’s not possible to improve your relationships!
To all of you who might be skeptical about reading relationship books about love, I say, at least give it a try!
What's the risk? That you learn a little more about what someone else's relationship experience is like? Or find a new trick to try when dealing with conflict with your partner? There's nothing to lose when you're talking about reading books, because there's nothing but benefits that come from taking time to yourself to focus yourself and your relationship.
If you really want to improve your love life or relationships, give it a shot. It can't hurt.
I can tell you that I have personally seen many important shifts take place in my life that would not have been possible if I had held on to those self-defeating beliefs. Our beliefs can limit our growth, which is essential to living a fulfilling life.
If you feel like you are stuck in the same old unhealthy love and relationship patterns, you must try to do everything to get rid of them. Either get out of those relationships that aren't serving you, or, if they have potential, work at repairing your relationship to try and make it better.
Whatever you do, don't let the old unhealthy patterns continue. Even your relationships are not particularly unhealthy, don't you want to have extremely fulfilling and enriching relationships?
The books about love I am about to share with you have been critically acclaimed for introducing life-changing ideas — especially related to love and relationships. Some of these books have actually changed my life. Be forewarned, these books might give you many "ah-ha" and "oh-my-God" moments!
So, without wasting any more time, let’s dive in!
1. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
The ideas presented in this book not only improve your relationship dynamics but also help you to become a better version of yourself. And everyone has room for a little improvement, don't you think?
The writer, Don Miguel Ruiz, basically shares four agreements or ideas that sound simple but are actually very powerful if you adopt and apply them in your own life.
My personal favorite agreement is, “Don’t take things personally.” Words cannot describe how adopting this agreement will enrich your relationships. Can you imagine how many fights you would be able to reduce? Can you even imagine how this would make you into a very empathetic, and therefore, wonderful person?!
Applying these methods would improve your relationships in more than just one way. It's worth reading the book to at least get a new perspective on how to repair your relationships with not only your partner, but also your family and your friends. You can take these lessons and apply them to all areas of your life.
(Check prices and reviews on Amazon)
2. Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
Even psychologists have recommended this book. It is an easy read and author Marshall B. Rosenberg teaches you how to avoid miscommunications and relationship killers such as blaming and criticizing, which drastically worsens the quality of our connections.
Among other things, Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life teaches us how to communicate in an effective and healthy manner that helps us connect with our loved ones instead of pushing them away.
Pick this up if you’ve noticed you are getting into more fights than you’d care to have so you can learn how to deal with those situations as they come.
(Check prices and reviews on Amazon)
3. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown
This book is a gem because it is all about self-love and self-acceptance. What does self-love have to do relationships, you might ask? It has literally everything to do with relationships!
How do you plan on creating and maintaining healthy relationships if you don’t even first love yourself? This book helps you get rid of self-defeating thoughts and find gratitude instead. The Gifts of Imperfection will remind you that you are worthy, and knowing this is bound to help you with love and relationships.
(Check prices and reviews on Amazon)
4. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown
If you can pick only one book from this list to read, this should be it. Brene Brown introduces a life-changing idea to embrace our vulnerability and not run away from it — no matter how uncomfortable and scary it may seem. She explains that while vulnerability can expose us to hurt and ridicule, it can also allow beautiful things such as love, joy, and empathy into our lives.
In fact, when we stop being vulnerable, she argues, we prevent ourselves from the very experiences that bring meaning to our lives.
(Check prices and reviews on Amazon)
5. The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman
Some of you probably saw this one coming, because this list just would not be complete without this book. And for good reason.
The ideas presented in The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love are probably the easiest to apply in your life and you will definitely start noticing results very quickly. Chapman reveals that human beings do not all fall for the same reasons and do not feel loved by the same gestures. Shocking, I know.
He also goes over the five different love languages that we have in varying degrees — which explains why I feel touched when my significant other cooks for me — but you may want more verbal affirmations or lead toward a different love language that works better for you. My primary love language is acts of service and yours, in this hypothetical case, is words of affirmation.
You can see how knowing your partner’s primary love language can help your relationship, can’t you? Take a read through one of the most famous books about love of our time and see why so many people rave about the life-changing ideas offered by The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love.
(Check prices and reviews on Amazon)
Mehruba Chowdhury is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture and relationship topics.
YourTango may earn an affiliate commission if you buy something through links featured in this article.